Message from Magda

Hi family!

A special hello to Grandma, Grandpa and GG! Hope you got my forwarded emails!

Things are going well here, I went to the primary school today and finally got to do some observations, which was really great. Today was also the first time that I witnessed the teachers using punishment such as hitting the children's palms with sticks or twisting their ears if they were not listening, or as the teachers like to call it "naughty". They will call out a student in class and tell you they are the naughty one in the class- and in most cases these are the kids who are not learning as quickly as everyone else. It's so unfortunate that they are labeled naughty so quickly, and because they don't get much individual attention they don't have the motivation to surpass what the teachers think of them. W

We also had to "talk to", which means teach, the grade 2 classroom, which was tough because the kids were bouncing off the walls. They couldn't really tell us what they were working on because no one was listening. But, Courtney and I were working together. SO, it wasn't terrible.

This past weekend we went to The Apartheid Museum, in Johannesburg, which was interesting, but not quite what I had expected. I thought it was going to be a really intense experience that would be so overwhelming, and in all honesty it seemed to downplay and only skim the surface of what happened here in South Africa. There was a big focus on Nelson Mandela, who was in prison for 27 years of Apartheid, which I found a little weird, and the stories and facts that we were told about didn't quite do justice. I guess I was hoping that I would learn more about what happened, and see more images, hear more personal accounts. I am disappointed that I didn't. I just find it interesting that there wasn't a much more graphic visual experience when the museum is dedicated to remembering.

I won't go into every thought i had about the museum, but I was mostly struck by a photographic essay in the beginning of the museum and the stories about the children in Soweto who were killed during Apartheid. After the museum, we went to Soweto to have lunch at a famous restaurant called Onedy's(sp?) where we were served curried lamb and beef, chicken, animal intestines(I DID NOT TRY THAT ONE!!!), beans, white beans(mashed corn), pop(which is similar to gritz here, but not as liquid-y), mashed pumpkin, mashed potatoes, vegetables and salad. It was an interesting meal, and it was pretty delicious. I wasn't sure how it was going to be. Afterwards we had drove through the township with a local Soweton(who lived there all her life) and she showed us around a bit. We visited the Hector Peterson memorial dedicated to Hector and all of the other children who died in walking to protest an education taught in Afrikaans. Hector was the first child to die. He was only 14 years old. There is a famous picture of his brother(I believe) carrying his body and running to get medical assistance. It was such a powerful image. The memorial has a portion laid with rocks to represent what the students used to try and hold off the police forces. Their rocks were no match to the police gunfire though. After visiting the memorial we went to Nelson Mandela's house, the one he lived in before and after he was arrested. After his release he only lived there for 11 days before he moved because he couldn't sleep at night. Everyone was so excited he was released and home they just sang outside his house. Unfortunately, his house has been renovated to preserve some of the the house, so there is wood paneling that isn't original due to damage from a petrol bomb. The original furniture is no longer there. I was a little disappointed by this, because the petrol bomb was still part of the history there and i wouldn't have minded seeing the stains on the walls. Bishop Desmond Tutu lives about a block down the street from Mandela's old house, and just up the street a few blocks is where Hector was shot. It is a famous block, and the only block to have ever had two nobel prize winners living on it. Pretty crazy fact.

Other than the tour of Soweto and the museum, we didn't do much else this past weekend. I went to a flee market yesterday and that was a lot of fun, and I picked up some really great artwork..hopefully I don't have too much trouble getting it home!

The american that we met came over last night, because we kind of had a dinner party that pretty much too many people were invited to. It could have gotten really out of hand, and left us wihtout enough food, but that was the fault of other people in the house. This guy, Ryan, is a pretty intense person, with lots of beliefs that I don't completely agree with. He is a Republican who has made a great deal of friends, in the 4 months he has been attending U. Pretoria, who are mostly Afrikaaner. It was difficult being around him last night because he was making some really racist remarks and speaking to me in a really demeaning manner, as though I was a complete idiot. He kept telling me I didn't understand the differences between all of the South Africans, and that I didn't know the history. He was talking about Zulus and Xhosas as though they were some epidemic, and really couldn't see why I wanted to meet all of these people from different cultures not the Afrikaaners who caused Apartheid. I know that we are a younger generation that can think for ourselves, but I am fairly certain I have been able to pick up opinions of different cultures that have been passed on through the parents. It was really frustrating sitting there while he talked. Everything he said was just terrible about any black person here, and he was even trying to show differences in culture through a comparison of music. I am sure the Afrikaaners don't hang out with Zulus and Xhosas because of the music they listen to and that it goes much deeper than that. I don't know. I couldn't really respond to him, because he wasn't giving me the chance and kept telling me I don't understand. Mom and Dad, you know how much I hate when people say that to me. I'm sure you can imagine how furious I was. He excused himself when I wasn't responding and I literally stood up and walked out of the room with tears streaming down my face. there were so many things I wanted to say, but i couldn't bare to speak to him, let alone here his voice or any more of his opinions and interpretations of history. It was truly awful.

Other than that I am feeling better today, and the kids at school really put me in a much better mood! There was one little girl who jumped into my arms and wouldn't let go. It was so sad, because she then said you are my mom. And I was like what about your mother, and she told me she was dead and her new mama wasn't nice. She only has her Papa. The kids are darling, but they really have some terrible stories if they open up to you. I love working with them though, because they put a smile on my face from 7:30am until 1:30 in the afternoon. It's great!

Anyways, I need to go work on some research, make some phonecalls and make a lesson plan on Recycling for Grade 4 tomorrow. Woohoo!!

Love,
Magdalena

P.S. Dad, if you want to put any of this up on the blog, from this email and previous ones feel free to. I might try to, if I have time...